Nae Pasaran!

A moment in history as Scottish workers take action against Pinochet.

Felipe
Bustos Sierra is director, producer and writer here so his deep
commitment to this project is not to be doubted. That being so, it
saddens me to have to say that I don't really feel that Nae Pasaran!
is material truly suited to a full-length feature film. Inspiration for
it came from what happened in March 1974 in East Kilbride when
employees of Rolls-Royce Ltd. took political action. This site In
Scotland was the only place in the world where engines for Hawker
Hunters could be repaired. Consequently what these men did by blacking
this work was a meaningful response to events in distant Chile where
these planes were playing a vital role in the putting down of Salvador
Allende and in the establishment of the CIA-backed junta of General
Pinochet.

In the first half hour of Nae Pasaran!
(the title recognisably being a version of what in English becomes the
rallying cry "They Shall Not Pass") the film puts before us three
Scotsmen who would ultimately receive awards from Chile for their
actions back in 1974. That this film should offer a further tribute to
them is fair enough but their recollections as they talk of these past
events is hardly enough to sustain a film lasting over an hour and a
half. To compensate for this we are given footage shot in Chile in
recent times but much of this is a general reminder of the Pinochet
regime already familiar in cinema (one thinks of the historical
documentaries of Patricio Guzmán or for that matter the mainstream
example of 1982's Missing).
For many viewers this will not be new and, if at times its weight
nevertheless overshadows the material about the Scotsmen, it is
actually rather confusingly presented (for example images from 1975
show Dr Sheila Cassidy as a victim of torture and then much later in
the film mention is made of her situation before that).

The end credits do reveal that three men seen in the film have since died so Nae Pasaran!
does have value as a record with direct testimony, some of it caught
just in time. Nevertheless, it feels long drawn out and its patent
sincerity doesn't persuade me that feature film as opposed to a shorter
television programme was the appropriate format. The project did enable
Felipe Bustos Sierra to bring home to those from East Kilbride just how
significant their actions had been although related investigations here
touching on an exchange of Chilean prisoners of the regime for the
possible release of engine parts ends in surmise with detailed proof
lacking. For the reasons indicated I did feel that Nae Pasaran!
was less effective than one would have hoped but anyone specially drawn
to the material with a passion equal to that of Felipe Bustos Sierra is
likely to be much more forgiving over what I see as the film's
weaknesses.